The Man Who Lived
by Radeon Potter
Summary: It's Halloween, '81. Voldemort arrives at Godric's Hollow , with the aim to kill Harry Potter. However, it's James who get's the scar. Rated T because of green flames and all. :)
1. The Man Who Lived

Oct. 31, 1981.

Voldemort was at Godric's Hollow. "Ah, there it is, the House of Potter at last," he said, as he approached the door. As he was about to open it, Wormtail (a.k.a. Peter "you-betrayed-James-Lily-and-Harry-to-Voldy" Pettigrew) Apparated right between Voldemort and the door.

"My lord," he said, looking furious, "even though I have told you the location of the Potters, I shall not let anyone, least of all you, kill one of the Marauders."

"Stand aside, Wormtail. Or you know the curse."

"Oh, really?" Wormtail opened the door. "OI! JAMES! I BETRAYED YOU TO THE DARK LORD, FLEE THIS PLACE AT _ONCE!_" James appeared, holding his wand. "Really, Wormy, this is not the time to jo- VOLDEMORT! You're dead, Mister," he finished surprisingly calmly.

"Oh, I'm so scared! Wee-Potter is going to kill me! You little blood traitor! _CRUCIO_!" But Wormtail stepped between them just in time. Voldemort took off the curse and said, "Go back, Wormtail. You needn't die. I just need to kill Potter's son."

"Oh no. You kill me first, you TOM MARVOLO RIDDLE! PURE-BLOOD PRAISER WHO HIMSELF IS A HALF-"

"_Avada Kedavra._"

Green light shot from Voldemort's wand and hit Wormtail full in the... hand. He dropped dead at once.

Lily appeared from a door, saying "James, stop making fictional characte-", when she saw Wormtail, Voldemort, and James, realized what had happened, and said "V-Vv-VOLDEMORT!?"

"YOU IDIOT! YOU KILLED WORMTAIL!? _Expelliarmus_!"

The 13 1/2 inch pheonix and yew wand zoomed out of Voldemort's hand, and into James's, who threw it away at once.

"Potter, oh, Potter, you don't know my powers, do you? I can perform any curse wandlessly. You're dead. _Avada Kedavra!_" Another flash of green light, headed at James's head. Lily covered her face in her hands. Then several things happened at once: the green light bounced off James, and hit Voldemort in the... eye. The front of the house blasted away into non-bieng, and Voldemort's body was covered in green fire. James nearly fainted, and fell down. Lily opened her eyes, and saw, to her surprise and astonishment, James stirring. He stood up, rubbing his foreheard. "Ow! Lil, it's hurting! Look!" He released it, and Lily gasped.

There was a scar, shaped like a lightning bolt, on his forehead. He had survived the curse, with nothing but a thin scar."Oh, James, I w-was s-so scared!" She hugged him. After he was released, he said, "But how? How did I survive? Not that I'm complaining, but... strange. I'll send an owl to Dumbledore."

"No need, James. I'm here." Dumbledore had Apparated into the room. "What has happened? Your house is covered in green fire, so I would assume Voldemort was here."

James narrated the whole incident. Dumbledore said, "James, Mr. Pettigrew here saved you from Voldemort. When he took the Killing Curse, he gave you the highest possible level of protection. Sacrifical protection. It is the only known way of surviving the Killing Curse, and was untested, until today. You, James, are the Man Who Lived."


	2. The Memory

24th August, 1994

Dumbledore was waiting. James was late, for something much more important than England winning the Quidditch World Cup. At last, there was a knock at the door. "Come in," Dumbledore said. James, Lily and Harry entered.

"I'm sorry, Albus. I Apparated to Godric's Hollow instead of Hogsmeade, and there was so much rain and mist that it was an hour before I realized," James said, "What did you call us for?"

He looked around the room he had been in so often, getting a scolding from Dumbledore. He remembered the last one vividly, for kissing Lily when they were supposed to be patrolling for the tenth time in a row.

"James, I'd rather prefer if young Harry wasn't here. These issues may be a bit scary for a fourteen year-old. Harry, I trust you know where Professor Lupin's office was? Please go and wait there," Dumbledore said calmly. Harry nodded politely and walked out.

"So James, you say that you saw Barty Crouch Jr. with Voldemort, talking to him? And then Voldemort murdered a Muggle, when he can't even hold a wand?"

"Yes Albus, and I'm sure that it was no odinary dream. But how is Voldemort coming back? When the curse backfired, wasn't he killed?"

"Oh, he was killed, but not fully. Lily, this is something for you. You know where Horace Slughorn lives?"

"Yes, Albus. But what about him?"

"You need to persuade him to get a memory from him. Tell him it's the Horcux memory, where he was in his office with Tom Riddle. I assure you, he is not proud of the memory, and will resist at first."

Lily left. James was about to follow, but Dumbledore stopped him gently and said, "James, I need to discuss an urgent matter with you."

"What's the matter, Albus? You know I know what a Horcrux is, and as I recall, Harry destroyed the diary in his second year?" There was, beneath the question, a little pride in James's voice.

"James, you will understand when Lily gets the memory. Now can you book a room in The Three Broomsticks till September 1st for all three of you? I have to send the owls for the to-be first-years."

**Author Note: Sorry for such a long wait for a short chapter, but my internet connection was having some problems.**


	3. The Horcruxes

**A/N: Memory courtesy of Joanne Katherine Rowling, Horace E. F. Slughorn, Tom Marvolo Riddle, and Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore.**

25th August, 1994.

"James, after you."

James put his head into the Pensieve. His feet left the office floor and landed in the familiar office. Slughorn looked much younger, like the slug he said he used to be. He was sitting in the winged armchair he had seen only too often, and had straw-colored hair and a gingery-blond moustache. There was a large group of boys sitting around him, with one (to James's surprise) having a ring with the symbol of the Deathly Hallows on it. So, James thought, the stone must be... no, it wasn't possible. He didn't even know that the other Hallows existed. But the Ressurection Stone was there, gleaming on the boy's hand. So the wand, the Elder Wand, that must exist too. But when James was thinking, the boy was saying "...true that Professor Merrythought is retiring?"

"Tom, Tom, if I knew I wouldn't tell you," said Slug, winking at the boy. "I must say, I'd like to know where you get your information, boy; more knowledgeable than half the staff, you are."

The boy smiled. The other boys laughed, looking at the boy like they were his proud parents. James thought he looked evil.

"What with your uncanny ability to know things you shouldn't, and your careful flattery of the people who matter... thank you for the pineapple, by the way, it is my favourite..."

Several of the boys giggled.

"... I confidently expect you to rise to Minister for Magic within 20 years. Fifteen, if you keep sending me that pineapple. I have_ excellent_ contacts at the Ministry."

So the party dragged on. At eleven, Slug sent them off to sleep. The boy stayed behind.

"Look sharp, Tom, you don't want to be caught out of bed after hours, and you are a prefect..."

"Sir, I wanted to ask you something."

"Ask away then, m'boy, ask away."

"Sir, I wondered what you knew about... about Horcruxes?"

Slug explained Horcruxes. James noticed that "Tom" looked rather greedy.

"What I don't understand, though, just out of curiousity, I mean, would Horcrux be much use? Can you split your soul only once? Wouldn't it be better, make you stronger, to have your soul in more pieces? I mean, for instance, isn't seven the most magically powerful number, wouldn't seven...?"

"MERLIN'S BEARD, TOM!" yelped Slug. "Seven?! Isn't it bad enough to think of killing one person? And in any case... bad enough to divide the soul... but to rip it into SEVEN pieces?!" Slug looked as if "Tom" was goind to kill him to make a Horcrux.

"Of course," he said, still looking scared, "this is all hypothetical, isn't it? All academic..."

"Yes, sir, of course" Tom smiled.

James pulled himself out. He stared at Dumbledore in horror.

"So that's why...?"

"Yes, James. Voldemort has six Horcruxes, plus the little part of the soul in his until-now body, which was the one that possesed Quirrel in '91."

**A/N: Interesting fact: The percentage of the soul in Voldemort's body is 0.78125% of his full soul. Next chapter coming up!**


	4. The Plan

31st August, 1994.

"So, according to you, Albus, he has a Horcrux at Hogwarts, one somewhere in Diagon Alley, in a cave where he bullied two kids to madness, one was the diary and one at those Gaunts' shack? And he was planning to make one out of my son?"

"Yes. And James, I've been wanting to tell this to you for a long time," Dumbledore paused, gave a sigh, and said, "You, James are also a Horcrux."

"I WHAT?!" James shouted, causing all the portraits to wake up. "Albus, are you out of your bloody mind? That means I've got to be killed before Voldemort can die!"

"I told you he'd take it badly. I've seen him with Sirius," said Phineas Nigellus Black, shaking his head.

"That will be all, Phineas. James, I really know what I'm saying. But, I have also found out about a plan. The Death Eaters are reunited with Voldemort, and he is giving them orders, that will restore him to power. Part of the plan is that Voldemort will kidnap you, to use your blood to get his body back. You must let him come back, and perform the Killing Curse on you. You will come back to life. Then you must get away as quickly as possible. Any questions?"

"How will I come back?"

"Ah, the very question I was hoping you'd ask. When Mr. Pettigrew stood between you and Voldemort, he gave you the highest level of protection against him. The protection runs in your blood. More specifically, in the red blood cells. When Voldemort takes the blood from you, he will make you invincible to him, because if he tries to kill you, you will not die, but the part of the protection in him will tether you back to life."

"Right. The other Horcruxes then. How about visiting his ancestor's house? Unless you want to do the cave first?"

"The cave first, if you please."

"Right then. Let's go!"

**A/N I have a real knack for making small chapters, like this and the one before. Sorry for lack of reading material.**


	5. The Dark Lord Dead

**A/N The last chapter! Sorry folks, but this story won't be long, mainly due to the fact that exams are coming. Also, I happen to have lost it. Just kidding about the second one :P **

4 May, 1996

The Ministry of Magic had fallen. Voldemort had the Elder Wand. He had the snake, Nagini. And James Potter? An eleven inch mahogany wand, according to Ollivander, excellent for Transfiguration. And instead of a Horcrux, Wormtail's protection. _And_ the fact that he still was a Horcrux. Here he was, facing Voldemort. One of them had to die. The prophecy which Snape had recited to Voldemort was different from the real one, which Voldemort had come to know of recently:

The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord has come,

One of those who have thrice defied him, his child born as the seventh month dies

And the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal, but he will have power the Dark Lord knows not

And either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives

The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord will become a father as the seventh month dies

"Potter. So you have finally arrived. And your last wish?" Voldemort's mouth curved into an evil grin.

"None. Kill me. As you told Wormy. '_You know the curse._' I'm waiting."

"James, no! WHAT'RE YEH DOIN'? ARE YEH OUTTA YER-"

James turned around and looked into the eyes of Rubeus Hagrid. "Trust me," he said, and then turning back to Voldemort, "Right. So here's my last wish. Hagrid carries my body to Dumbledore."

"All right then, Potter! Ready to die?"

James nodded, smiling. Voldemort moved, a flash of green light, then nothing.

James opened his eyes. He was lying on grass, his chest feeling like someone had hit him with an iron-clad punch. In front of him, Voldemort was lying down on the grass. He saw Voldemort stand up. "Is he dead? You! Go and check!" James knew someone was coming, probably a Death Eater, so he stood up, and called, "Hey, you, Riddle! Yeah, you, white-head! Can't kill me! Wormy's protection lives in you, idiot! In the red blood cells you took from me!"

Voldemort, furious at being called both "Riddle" and "white-head" by a single person, stood up and shouted, "YOU! _**AVADA KEDAVRA!**_"

But the curse rebounded again, as this time no part of Tom Riddle's soul was there to be hit. The curse hit Nagini, who exploded.

"AARGH!_** AVADA KEDAVRA! AVADA KEDAVRA! AVADA KEDAVRA!**_"

All three curses rebounded, and each hit Voldemort where his body had been empty: his heart (he was heartless), brain (brainless), and stomach (hungry). As it would be impossible for him, without Horcruxes or Sacrifical Protection against himself, to survive one, let alone three Killing Curses, his body crumpled, fell to the earth, and died.

**A/N: THE END. Expelliarmus! Hehe, now I own your wand! :P**


End file.
